April 8, August 8, and December 8, or the following workday if the receipt deadline is a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday. Applications must be submitted by these dates. (See the standard NIH due dates at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/submissionschedule.htm.)

The earliest award start date for applications submitted for the April 8 deadline is December; August 8 is April; and December 8 is July. Once a fellowship has been awarded, you have 6 months to activate (start) it.

The most recent forms and instructions for the F32 fellowship application can be accessed through the NIH Web site for unsolicited applications at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/parent_announcements.htm. Check the F32 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the most recent details for submitting an application. (Current forms and instructions are at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm#inst.)

Postdoctoral researchers participating in mentored research training are eligible to apply for F32 fellowships seeking to enhance one's potential to develop into a productive, independent researcher. Senior fellowships (F33) are for experienced scientists who wish to make major changes in the direction of their research careers or who wish to broaden their scientific background by acquiring new research capabilities. F33 awards are targeted to individuals with at least seven years of research experience beyond the doctorate, and who have progressed to the stage of independent investigator. In most cases, F33 awards are used to support sabbatical experiences.

By the time of award, the individual must be a citizen or a non-citizen national of the United States or have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence (i.e., possess a currently valid Permanent Resident Card USCIS Form I-551, or other legal verification of such status).

Before a Kirschstein-NRSA postdoctoral fellowship award can be activated, the individual must have received a PhD, MD, DO, DC, DDS, DVM, OD, DPM, ScD, EngD, DrPH, DNSc, ND (Doctor of Naturopathy), PharmD, DSW, PsyD, or equivalent doctoral degree from an accredited domestic or foreign institution. Certification by an authorized official of the degree-granting institution that all degree requirements have been met is also acceptable.

Before submitting the application, the candidate must identify a sponsor(s) who will supervise the proposed mentored training experience. Candidates are encouraged to identify more than one sponsor, i.e., a sponsor team, if this is deemed advantageous for their training program.

One can provide an explanation for the gaps in the candidate section or biosketch personal statement of the application.

In the personal statement of the biosketch, one may cite up to four publications or research products that highlight your experience and qualifications for this project. Research products can include, but are not limited to, audio or video products; conference proceedings such as meeting abstracts, posters, or other presentations; patents; data and research materials; databases; educational aids or curricula; instruments or equipment; models; protocols; and software or netware. Use of hyperlinks and URLs to cite these items is not allowed. One can cite interim research products. Note: interim research products have specific citation requirements. See Interim Research Product Frequently Asked Questions for more information.

NRSA postdoctoral fellowships are for training, and training potential is one of the criteria that reviewers and program staff evaluate. However, if you are planning to acquire new skills and techniques, becoming familiar with a new system, or studying a new aspect of the organism that you worked with in graduate school, it may make sense for you to apply for a fellowship. If your postdoctoral work is in the same general area as your graduate work, you should emphasize the opportunities for new training and explain how that new training relates to your long-term career goals.

NIGMS considers time spent in the sponsor's lab when making funding decisions. If you have been in your current sponsor's lab for more than 2 years at the time you submit your application, it may not be considered for funding. Extenuating circumstances leading to interruptions in research training may be considered for competitive applications. Potential applicants should consult program staff to discuss their individual situation before submitting an application.​

It is important to justify your choice of a lab in which to do a second postdoc in terms of how the research relates to what you did in your first postdoc and to your career goals.

Yes, if there is no laboratory doing comparable research in the United States or are resources in the foreign laboratory that are not available in comparable laboratories in the United States. In your application, you must provide a rationale for doing postdoctoral research in a foreign country, which reviewers and program staff will evaluate. Be aware that if an award is made, the process will take extra time, since special arrangements must be made for paying the stipend and institutional allowance.

Candidates for fellowship awards are expected to write the Research Training Plan, and the sponsor should review a draft of the plan and discuss it in detail with the applicant. Review by other knowledgeable colleagues is also helpful. Although fellowship applications do not require extensive experimental detail usually incorporated into regular research grant applications, a fundamentally sound Research Training Plan should be provided.

See the NOFO and SF424 Application Guide for details on which party (Candidate or Sponsor) are responsible for which sections.

Visit https://grants.nih.gov/grants-process/write-application/advice-on-application-sections/reference-letters for details on how to select a referee, instructions to provide to referees, and the reference letter submission process.

Regardless of career stage, the primary sponsor must demonstrate a commitment to ensuring the candidate receives tailored training that will facilitate their skills development and career advancement. Candidates are encouraged to identify more than one sponsor, i.e., a sponsor team, if this is deemed advantageous for their training program. When there is a sponsor team, one individual must be identified as the primary sponsor.

See Section IV. Application and Submission Information of the NOFO and SF424 Application Guide for expectations of the Research Training Plan. It is important to relate the proposed research to the candidate's scientific career goals. Explain the relationship between the candidate's research on the fellowship award and the sponsor's ongoing research program. The Research Training Plan is expected to be tailored to the experience level of the candidate and to allow him/her to develop the necessary skills for further career advancement.

Yes. All fellowship applicants must include a plan to obtain instruction in the responsible conduct of research. This plan should document prior instruction in responsible conduct of research during the applicant's current career stage (including the dates of last occurrence) and propose a plan to receive instruction in responsible conduct of research. The plan must address the five instructional components, format, subject matter, faculty participation, duration of instruction, and frequency of instruction, as outlined and explained below. The plan may include career stage-appropriate, individualized instruction or independent scholarly activities that will enhance the applicant's understanding of ethical issues related to their specific research activities and the societal impact of that research. The role of the sponsor/mentor in responsible conduct of research instruction must be described. Applications lacking a plan for instruction in responsible conduct of research will be considered incomplete and may be delayed in the review process. Candidate should consult with their institution for sample language. Full details about this policy requirement can be found in the NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-10-019 and NOT-OD-22-055.

See Section II. Award Information of the NOFO to determine application types allowed. In most cases, a resubmission is allowed. See https://grants.nih.gov/grants-process/submit/submission-policies/resubmission-applications for details regarding resubmission applications.

If you can address most or all the reviewers' concerns and you haven't exceeded the NIGMS limit for time already spent in the current sponsor's lab, you should talk to your sponsor about the possibility of resubmitting. Receipt deadlines for resubmissions are April 8, August 8 and December 8. You should address the reviewers' comments and describe the progress that you've made since you submitted the original application. Your publication list and your sponsor's information should be updated, if necessary.

Yes. Reviewers for the resubmission will not have access to the letters and appendix materials that accompanied the previous version.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant review process can take between 8 and 20 months after the due date. See https://grants.nih.gov/grants-process for details on the NIH grant process including review.

You should contact the Scientific Review Officer (SRO) who oversees the study section in which your application will be reviewed. You'll find the SRO's name and contact information in your eRA Commons account, which will be available about a month after you submit your application. See https://grants.nih.gov/help/ic-staff-roles#scientific-review-officers for a comprehensive list of NIH Staff and their roles during the grant life cycle.

The revised fellowship review criteria, effective for receipt dates on or after January 25, 2025, is intended to help reviewers to better evaluate a candidate's potential and the quality of their research training plan without the undue influence of the sponsor's or institution’s reputation, and ensure that the information provided in the application is targeted to the fellowship candidate's specific training needs and aligned with restructured review criteria. The revised peer review criteria will apply to the following activity codes: F30, F31, F32, F33, F99/K00. See Changes to the Fellowship Review Criteria | Grants & Funding for more details.

Typically, within one week of the study section meeting, your application's priority score will be available through your eRA Commons account. Your priority score is determined by calculating the mean score from all the study section members impact scores (1-9) for your application and multiplying the average by 10. This gives a possible scoring range of 10 (best) to 90 (worst). Note that this overall score is not an average of the individual criterion scores. Contact your program director to find out whether your priority score is likely to be in the fundable range after you receive your Summary Statement.

The reviewer comments or "summary statement" will be available in the NIH Commons about four or six weeks after the study section meets.

The SRO prepares the summary statement that contains:

• Overall resume and summary of review discussion (if discussed).
• Written critiques by the assigned reviewers, including scores for the five main review criteria.
• Overall Impact score and percentile (if discussed; also, not all applications receive a percentile).
• Study Section recommendations.
• Budget recommendations.
• Administrative notes of special consideration.

The summary statement becomes the official IC record of the recommendations made by the peer review committee. Once the summary statement is available, you may contact your program officer (listed on the summary statement) if you have any questions.

The Notice of Award (NoA), the official notification that your grant has been funded, is emailed to the grantee organization for your grant application, with a copy to the PI/PD. The program officer assigned to the grant may contact the principal investigator to give informal news of an award, but the NoA is the official documentation. When NIH issues the NoA, the document is made available to grantee officials and corresponding PD/PIs in the eRA Commons through the Status module. The eRA Commons is the official repository for the NoA document.

Three factors determine the term of a fellowship. The first factor is the study section, which may recommend a term that is shorter than what you requested (see "Committee Budget Recommendations" at the end of your summary statement). The second factor is whether you have been on an NRSA postdoctoral training grant or have had an NRSA postdoctoral fellowship previously. If so, the term of your fellowship will be adjusted so that your total NRSA postdoctoral support does not exceed 3 years. The third factor is the time that you have already spent in your current sponsor's lab.

The HHS Secretary sets National Research Service Awards (NRSA) stipend levels and adjusts them periodically to reflect increases in the cost of living, as specified in 42 U.S. Code § 288(b)(5). The stipends provided to recipients of NRSA support offset the cost-of-living during the period of training and are not considered equivalent to salaries or other forms of compensation provided to individuals supported on research grants. FY2024 stipend levels are provided in NOT-OD-24-104.

Stipend levels range from 0, for freshly minted PhDs, to 7 (current fellowship stipends are available at http://grants.nih.gov/training/nrsa.htm). Your stipend level is determined by the amount of time that you'​ve spent doing biomedical research-related activities (research, teaching, or clinical) since you earned your Ph.D. or another terminal degree. The relevant experience can be in your current sponsor's lab, elsewhere, or both. If you earned two terminal degrees (e.g., an M.D. and a Ph.D.), we calculate your stipend based on when you earned the first degree.

Level 1. Your stipend level in year 1 will be the one for which you were eligible when you were offered the fellowship, regardless of when you activate (start) the fellowship.

Yes. Every year, your stipend will be one level higher than it was in the previous year. For example, if you are paid at level 2 in the first year of your fellowship, you'll be paid at level 3 in the second year and at level 4 in the third year. In your second year, your stipend will be what Congress authorizes that year for level 3. In your third year, your stipend will be what Congress authorizes that year for level 4.

Your institution or your sponsor may choose to supplement your fellowship stipend, which is legal if the supplemental funds come from a non-Federal source and are provided without any additional obligation from the fellow.

Yes. In most cases, your business office will issue the IRS Form 1099 that you'll need when you file your tax return.